Just kidding. It is a day for celebrating Finnish Swedes and Swedish Finns (not Swedish Fish) — but it’s also Election Day, if you hadn’t gathered.

If you’re as over-saturated by the election as we are at this point (we are about on par with this little girl), we suggest you look ahead a few sunrises from now to the most important meal of the day — breakfast.

This Saturday, Nov. 10, start your day with world-renowned curator and all-around hoot Dr. Bob Bakker. We’re serving up the bacon with Bakker from 9 to 11:30 a.m. and some of the staff that put the whole paleo party together.

Guests can meet Dr. Bakker, watch his special presentation geared especially to kids, participate in dinosaur activities and enjoy nibbles and noms with the Bakkster.

Tickets are $40 for the general public, $30 for members and may be purchased online here. Children under 1 year old are admitted free; all children must have adult supervision.

For the past week and a half, the HMNS paleontology team – led by Dr. Robert Bakker – has been back in Seymour, TX, digging for Dimetrodon at a site they’ve now been working for several years. (You can read more of what’s been found already in our daily blog from the field in 2007). Today, they said goodbye to the site for several months, after leaving it covered and safe for the coming winter weather, and pulling out a ton (possibly literally) of new material to study and prepare until then.

David Temple – our associate curator of paleontology and a one of our BEYONDbones bloggers– provides this series’ farewell podcast with a wrapup of their discoveries – and a review of the local cuisine.

Never fear! If you miss the daily update, stop by the museum – members of the team and Museum volunteers often work to preserve these fossils in public areas, like the Paleontology Hall or the Dinosaur Mummy CSI exhibition. You can also check out earlier updates from this dig trip:

Our paleontology team – led by Dr. Robert Bakker – is back in Seymour, TX, digging for Dimetrodon at a site they’ve now been working for several years. (You can read more of what’s been found already in our daily blog from the field in 2007). Today, they’re wrapping things up to come back to Houston – and they’ve sent us two updates.

In the first, David Temple – our associate curator of paleontology and a one of our BEYONDbones bloggers, talks about the darker side of Texas paleontology – cactus spines – and how you protect a dig site for the winter weather.

In the second, we’re pleased to bring you an update from Tim Quarles. Tim was a member of the team that found and excavated Leonardo, the famous mummified dinosaur that is now on display here in Houston. He was also there for our recent trip to Malta, where Leonardo was found. So, the team was thrilled that he happened to be in Texas for a few days, and was able to stop by our dig site. In his update, Tim gives us his impressions from digging in the Permian for the first time.

Dr. Bakker leads a group of volunteers in carefully
excavating a plaster jacket filled with fossils and
matrix from the Seymour dig site the team has
been reporting from this week. They’re bringing
back several new jackets to work on over the
next few months.

Today’s update comes David Temple – our associate curator of paleontology and a one of our BEYONDbones bloggers. They’re wrapping up the dig, and he fills us in on the progress from yesterday, as well as what’s in store for the team today.

They’ll finish jacketing and removing as many fossils as they can from the site, and prepare what’s left to be sheltered until they return. They face two challenges: limited time and a paleontologist’s worst nightmare: rain.